Twenty Two, Going on Twenty Three
by Melika Elena
Summary: After all those years, they meet again. She is twenty two, going on twenty three, and no longer has any need for him.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own "The Sound of Music" or any of its characters. Although if I met a man like Captain Von Trapp, that would more than make up for it.

**Twenty-Two, Going on Twenty-Three**

_Austria, early 1946_

They have a better view than she does from her bedroom window, Liesl mused fleetingly as she took in the misty, ethereal mountains that towered over the grassy hills. Picking up a small, white flower—her father's favorite—she breathed in. Oh, Austria.

She had missed this. This serenity, this feeling of utter peace. _She was home. _Life in Switzerland was remarkably similar, thankfully, and she thought whenever she had been homesick that it could have been worse if they had gone to Italy, or, heaven forbid, America! But the hills in Switzerland were not alive as the ones in Austria. When she sang, the voice that came back at her was unfamiliar as was her life.

At first, they had struggled, and had to lay low. Although the Swiss were kind people, if they knew that the Nazi's were after the Captain, they would have been wary and averse to helping the bewildered, poor family.

Her young siblings had settled in well, and made friends in the innocent, kind way children did. Eventually she too felt comfortable as well, and even Mother Maria, who had suffered the most without her hills, took solace in her children and husband. Her father took a job originally at a local bank as a bookkeeper and Mother Maria was a seamstress and tailored outfits. Once a year or two passed and the Nazis gave up their search, they were able to become open about their past and the Captain was able to take a higher paying job. Their houses they had lived in in Switzerland were never as grand as the one that was waiting for them in Austria, but home was where the heart was, and Liesl's poor, battered, sixteen-year-old heart eventually mended and was whole again.

Now, six years later, she was no longer the impressionable girl she had once been, and she wanted one person in particular to recognize that.

Liesl tilted her face downward, her bright eyes dimming solemnly. In a soft, sad voice, lower and more mature than it had once been, she sang,

"_No longer do I wait, on an empty stage, for fate to turn the light on._

_ My life no longer is an empty page, though men still want it to write on. _

_I am twenty-two, going on twenty-three, and darling, have I thought! _

_I've been beware, have been canny and careful, as I've pushed past the brink._

_ I am twenty-two, going on twenty-three, fellow have fallen in line. _

_Eager young lads, and Nazis, and cads, have offered me food and wine. _

_No longer unprepared am I, to face a world of men._

_ Daring and brave and bold am I, of things beyond my ken!Now I have someone older and wiser, supporting me through and through. _

_I am twenty-two, going on twenty-three, no longer… am I in need… of you_."

It started to rain, a soft, pitter-patter, vaguely reminding her of a night long ago when she first lost her heart. This time she did not dance, it would not be proper, and her dance partner was not with her.

"_I am twenty-two, going on twenty-three, I know that I was naive. _

_Though I gave you my heart and you tore it apart, somehow I still believe._

_ I am twenty-two, going on twenty-three, I've blossomed like a rose. _

_Bachelor, dandies, drinkers of brandies, now I do know of those. _

_No longer unprepared am I, to face a world of men. _

_Daring and brave and bold am I, of things beyond my ken! _

_Though you were older, you were not wiser, you broke my heart in two. _

_I am twenty-two, going on twenty-three, and I… have made peace… with you_."

Laying down a single white rose, the irony not lost on her, Liesl gazed down at the small grave.

**Rolfe Sperling**

**1922-1940**

**Beloved Son, Brother, and Friend**

**Rest in Peace**

"Good-bye, Rolfe," she said quietly, vaguely noticing the rain had stopped. "I hope that wherever you are... that you are happy."

She did not know how he died, only sometime during the war. She did not know for what side he was on, and did not dare ask if he had ever seen the errors of his ways. And if he did, if he had managed to escape them. She did not want to know, did not want to think about who he may have become, although she did wonder from time to time. Liesl wanted to remember him as her first love, a person who not only taught her the wonders of love, but of the heartaches and of the important lesson on who to trust, and how to tell who was easily swayed, and who was not.

Liesl faced her hills again, looking towards her future as she turned away and walked from the last skeleton in her closet. And though she knew she could never totally leave behind that naïve, sweet sixteen-year-old girl, Liesl knew she didn't want to. For that sixteen-year-old girl had an abundance of hope and love inside of her that Liesl wanted to keep with her current self for eternity.

A good ways away from the silent graveyard now, she started to smile, wiping the rain, the tears, away from her cheeks. Opel, her fiance, was coming from Switzerland today and it wouldn't do anyone good if she were miserable. It was time to face her future, without any ghosts or lingering fears inside of her.

Rolfe may not have been alive any longer, but she was, and she would learn from their mistakes for both of them.

_"The hills are alive with the sound of music…" _

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**Notes: **Believe it or not, I had never seen "The Sound of Music" until a few weeks ago. I loved it so much that I decided to write a fic on it! I've wondered what would happen if Liesl would meet Rolfe again (I knew from the very beginning he was a bad egg. Honestly, someone telling you what to do!) I considered making him alive again, but I think the chances of him surviving the war and coming out unscathed by the world is slim to none.

On another note, Rolfe didn't have a last name, I don't think, so I looked up one. Tell me if he does have one!

Anyway, tell me what you think! Thank you!


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